You may recall that Rupert Murdoch's protege, Rebekah Brooks, the girl-wonder former chief executive of  News Corporation's U.K. publishing umbrella, News International, was arrested last summer over her role in the phone hacking scandal. Now, from a separate inquiry, she has been charged with conspiring to conceal evidence.

The Guardian reports:

Brooks is accused of conspiring with others, including her husband, a racehorse trainer and friend of the prime minister, and her personal assistant, to conceal material from detectives.

...They are among six individuals from News International, along with the company's head of security, Mark Hanna, to be charged over allegations that they removed material, documents and computers to hide them from officers investigating phone hacking. The charge carries a maximum penalty of life, although the average term served in prison is 10 months.

Brooks, who became editor of Murdoch's now-defunct News of the World at age 31, became head of News International 9 years later - before resigning in July 2011, in the midst of the paper's phone hacking scandal. She was arrested shortly thereafter but has yet to be charged for any role in either phone hacking or alleged bribery of police.

This is huge, folks, and it's far from over.